C’est Dommage!

When I was in high school, I took two years of French.

One of the “romance languages.”

Regarded as highly sophisticated, expressive, known as “la langue d’amour,” (“the language of love”).

So, as I was doing vocabulary flashcards and conjugating verbs like nobody’s business, a certain phrase stuck out for me: “C’est Dommage.”

Translation: “That’s too bad.”

It was one of those statements that could accompany a shoulder shrug and sigh.

When life goes… askew.

“That’s too bad.”

Phonetically speaking?

“Say…Doe…Mahhhhge.”

(Say it with me).

Today’s French lesson, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Scripture tells us to think about certain things. This famous passage…

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is well spoken of—if any excellence and if any praise—think on these things.”

Philippians 4:8

Whatever is true…

Truth can be challenging to swallow. How many of us have been deceived, even, ever so slightly?

Ideally, “truth” should be a good thing.

Yet, its reality is trickier, isn’t it?

Because many of us are not happy about our life realities.

So, all too quickly, a variation of this French phrase, can, arguably, be depicted THIS way…

Damage… “too bad…”

That’s… damage?

Eh, yeah, come on, that often doesn’t feel like a good thing.

What do we say is “truth” for us?

“The Truth shall set you free.”

John 8:32

What do we say is “too bad?”

What do we say is “Damage?”

Being brutally real and honest, is “truth” seen as “a good thing” for us?

If not, WHY not?

“YHWH is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and He will not do? Or has He spoken, and He will not fulfill?”

Numbers 23:19

Let’s add that to “the list” of things we think on.

Whatever is honorable…

Too many of us are too familiar with dishonor. We have “settled,” perhaps. We are living beneath “honorable.”

What does that look like for you?

If you and I do not have an accurate depiction of honor, for any number of reasons, including abuse and betrayal, how could we even begin to recognize honor?

We would be challenged to see it, let alone, think about it, right?

“That’s too bad?”

Say… damage?

That’s… damage?

“Do not be afraid, for you will not be ashamed; and you should not be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth…”

Isaiah 54:4

What could that mean to you, as you consider “the list?”

Whatever is right…

Much like that of honor, the issue of “right” can be daunting for many of us.

We maybe were not presented with accurate displays of right and wrong. Maybe they were “flipped/reversed.”

“What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.”

Isaiah 5:20

Therefore, if we are thinking about anything, even if it is something that should look straight-up clear and identifiable AS Honor, we may be confused, probably, discouraged, instead.

But Scripture tells us that Our Loving Father is NOT The author of confusion (1 Corinthians14:33).

That confusion did not originate with Him.

It originated from someone or some other source (Nothing like narrowing it DOWN).

Nevertheless, we can arrive at this place of… saying… it’s damage…

Say… Damage?

“You are righteous when You judge...”

“Against You, You only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in Your sight,

so that You may be proved right when You speak

and blameless when You judge.”

Psalm 51:4

When you and I cannot trust ourselves to know and do what is right, The Most High always can be trusted.

Add that to the “think on these things list.”

Whatever is pure…

Well, we just keep going from difficult to seemingly, more impossible, don’t we?

Purity.

That’s hard for many of us to accept and see play out.

Turn on the news. Be in relationships that let us down.

Watch human behavior.

For starters, huh?

It can be difficult to see purity when filth is all too easily prevalent.

“Their tables are covered with vomit; filth is everywhere.”

Isaiah 28:8

Therefore, we can find ourselves saying… damage, right?

Yet, yet…

There IS cleansing…

“The Son is the radiance of The Most High’s glory and the exact representation of His Being, sustaining all things by His powerful Word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven.”

Hebrews 1:3

That Is part of what we can think on, even as we are challenged by “the list.”

Whatever is lovely…

Ugliness, likewise, usually accompanies dishonor, and sometimes, impurity.

And it is often more of the rule than the exception in our lives.

And ugliness is not made any easier when, like right and wrong, we invert loveliness and ugliness.

Because of my disordered eating and image issue track record, I did a lot of inverting.

I switched ugliness, or, more accurately, unhealthiness, to beauty.

I “decided” that concentration camp victims, skeletal, and starving, were my image goals.

Idolatry in its most extreme form.

Focusing on obtaining their image, minus the literal prison camp, I whittled down to a two-digit weight.

So, yet again…

Say…DAMAGE…

Eh, well, not so much.

Still, He calls us beautiful.

“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”

Psalm 139:14

“O my dove…let me see your form…for your form is lovely.”

Song of Solomon 2:14

“Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.”

Song of Solomon 4:7

Something to think about.

As we think about “these things.”

Whatever is well spoken of…

“Woe when all men may speak well of you, for according to the same their fathers were doing to the false prophets.”

Luke 6:26

Good reputation. Integrity. Character.

Things can get tricky a bit here.

Let’s face it. We all want approval and validation.

We like to be liked.

Being popular and wanted can feel much better than being rejected and invisible.

We often come from a place of wanting/needing to be loved.

Many times, it comes from wounds of childhood, including, but not limited to abuse, divorce, and addiction.

Unmet needs.

So, we seek these things out.

And so, we Say…DAMAGE…

“Woe when all men may speak well of you, for according to the same their fathers were doing to the false prophets.”

Luke 6:26

What are we thinking? What are we prioritizing?

Whose attention? Whose approval?

“For they loved the approval of people rather than the approval of YHWH.”

John 12:43

This is where things can become “too bad,” right?

We didn’t intend to go this way, perhaps.

Gradually, perhaps.

Nevertheless, here we have arrived, phonetically speaking “damage” in our lives, because of what we thought about.

You do it; I do it.

Excellence…

“…if any excellence…”

A spirit of excellence.

What does that look like? How does that show up in our lives?

In a world in which mediocrity and even poor choices are celebrated and catered to, excellence can seem impossible and unrealistic.

Yet, it stands out. It thrives.

What do we say to excellence?

Yes?

Or self-sabotage?

Most of us probably nod our heads towards that second option.

Again, we can Say…DAMAGE.

It’s easier for us to think and behave through disorder, dysfunction, and complacency.

Again, we all do it.

“Consider the lilies, how they grow: They do not labor, nor do they spin. Yet I say to you⁺, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these.”

Luke 12:27

Flowers. The lilies of the field. A spirit of excellence there.

He is excellently moving for you and I.

Add that to “the list.”

Praise…

Like excellence, praise beckons us to choose it for our lives.

What do we give positive attention to?

What- and Who- do we praise?

What do we spend our focus, our time, and our energy ON?

We are praising something, even if we don’t loudly shout about it.

It has to do with what consumes our attention.

What do we say?

Is that thing a good thing, worthily deserving of everything encapsulating praise?

Or do we say… DAMAGE?

Have we decided “that thing” is “cool” for us?

What we “SAY” matters…

“Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Proverbs 18:21

What we say, phonetically, literally, unintentionally, even…matters.

We can say “Damage.”                   

We can say that things are “too bad.”

And we can say something else.

It requires us to stop and think.

And we can take the time to praise, even offer a sacrifice of praise.

Add that to “the list.”

And focus on things that maybe don’t align with what we deem to be important.

We focus on His thoughts for us instead.

I know. It’s challenging.

We all make choices that fall short of His Glory (Romans 3:23).

But, because of His new mercies, new every day (Lamentations 3:23), we can get new opportunities to start again.

We can start saying “C’est magnifique!”(“That’s magnificent”)… instead.

Let’s pray.

Abba Father-

I come to You, in The Name of Your Son, My Savior, Yahshua.

You know, fully well what has been “too bad” in my life.

You know what I have lived through.

And You know what I’m thinking about.

You know, day by day, what consumes my thoughts.

Forgive me for thinking things that are far from Your thoughts, from things that do not glorify You.

Help me.

Help me to align my attention to You, to Your ways, which are so much higher than mine.

I cannot do this on my own. I need Your Help.

Thank You for loving me, for thinking so many thoughts of me.

Help me think and live in a closer relationship with You.

In The Name of Yahshua, I pray.

Amen.

Copyright © 2026 by Sheryle Cruse